FRIDAY BRIEFING

Terror case travel fallout

The suspected British terror plot is bad news for the key airline sector, but seems unlikely to send the travel industry into an economic tailspin like the one after 9/11.

This has been the first profitable summer in five years for airlines, many of which confront bankruptcy. They've trimmed flight schedules, shunned major fare wars and filled planes to record levels. Even record fuel prices haven't stalled the rebound.

Terrorist attacks do not have long-lasting effects on travel: "Americans will continue to fly," said an analyst. Page C1

Thousands of European business travelers have a shocking experience: Security agents ban laptops in carry-on baggage. But U.S. security officials contemplate no such prohibition on domestic flights. Page C1

*

Robbers going for the gadgets

The widespread adoption of expensive electronic gadgets such as iPods and elaborate cellphones creates many tempting targets for robbers.

Thefts of such electronic gear are up 34% so far this year and account for 1,700 of Los Angeles' total 8,000 robberies.

Police say many cases involve students or commuters waiting for a bus being forced to give up their electronic devices, which can be worth $500 or more. The stolen gear is easy for criminals to sell. Page B1

*

Female priests challenge church

More than a dozen Roman Catholic women, including some Californians, face excommunication after performing priestly duties following their "ordination" in recent ceremonies designed to challenge the all-male priesthood.

Dozens of women are in the pipeline for future ordinations, according to the Women's Ordination Conference, which has advocated female priests for three decades.

Some of the women already ordained are warned of serious consequences by church officials. Page B1

*

More fallout from option grants

The former general counsel of Apple Computer Inc. hires high-profile criminal defense attorneys as an investigation continues into the company's stock option grants.

When Nancy Heinen left Apple in May, after nearly a decade running the legal department, the company offered no explanation.

Federal authorities declare an official "commercial fishery failure" along a 700-mile stretch of Pacific coast.

This triggers a bureaucratic process to bring financial aid to fishermen and communities affected by the virtual closure of the commercial salmon season on the California and Oregon coasts.

Next could come speedy congressional approval of grants to a fishing industry whose revenues have plummeted 80% since the season's start in May. Page B3

**

Buy, buy it all!

It's 8 a.m. The door opens. And in flow the crowds for a ritual of August in Los Angeles: the biannual Barney's Warehouse Sale. For 35 years, the store known for its pricey designer wear culls the past season's clothes and mixes in some new items. Now many stores copy the event. But still shoppers come, the frugal and the profligate. Page B2

**

THE CRITIC: 'The relatable miracle of "Stairway B" is not so much that the firefighters survived, which belies comprehension, as that they attempted to walk up 90 flights of stairs, in full gear ... in the simmering North Tower to rescue stranded office workers.' Paul Brownfield, Calendar, E1

**

CALENDAR

Just call him Mr. Sunshine

Times sports columnist T.J. Simers had as much fun during his family's RV vacation as he does watching a hockey game. Because he was "curious about the similarities in the kooky families," he compared the Simers family ordeal to that of the Hoover clan (above) in the film "Little Miss Sunshine." Page E4

*

Portrait of an artist, on paper

The German-born, New York emigre died of a brain tumor at 34 in the spring of 1970.

But artist Eva Hesse left a legacy of work done largely in the 1960s that blended conventions of painting and sculpture.

Now, "Eva Hesse Drawing" has come to the Museum of Contemporary Art in an exhibit that runs through Oct. 23.

With more than 120 examples, the exhibit showcases the artist's work on paper.

Art critic Christopher Knight writes that some are working diagrams, "spelled out in handwritten text or descriptive notations made on a typewriter. Some have the character of idle doodles -- the kind of thing one might do while talking on the telephone or daydreaming on a lazy afternoon."

The exhibit, Knight notes, shows "a complete compendium of the artist's work on paper" and Hesse's transformation into a mature artist. Page E1

*

The stars come out for a dissident

Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji had a message for Hollywood this week: Complete disarmament is needed in the Middle East.

Tina Daunt writes that the intimate gathering at producer Mike Medavoy's Beverly Hills estate included just about every politically active leading man around, such as Warren Beatty, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jake Gyllenhaal.